Rockefeller Gives Harvard $100 Million

David M. Rockefeller is giving $100 million to Harvard University, his alma mater.

It is the largest gift by an alumnus in the university’s history. Eli and Edythe Broad made a $100 million gift to the university in 2005, but they are not alumni.

The Rockefeller gift will support international study programs for undergraduates and support Harvard’s nascent efforts to greatly expand its arts education.

“Harvard has played an important role in my life,” Mr. Rockefeller, 92, said in a telephone interview. “I was a student, class of 1936, and I’ve been on the board of overseers. My experiences there shaped who I am.”

A language requirement by the college sent Mr. Rockefeller to Germany in the summer of 1936, which awakened him to the dangers of fascism, he said, and it was there that he began his study of art, which became a lifelong passion.

Drew Faust, the president of Harvard, said the gift was critical to the development of additions to the education the university offers.

Harvard has the largest endowment of any university in the world, with assets of $35 billion, but Dr. Faust said gifts like Mr. Rockefeller’s were still critical.

“To outsiders, our bucket may seem full, but at Harvard, we so often see aspirations we hope to fulfill that we can never have too many resources,” she said.

Last year, about 1,450 Harvard undergraduates participated in study programs abroad, more than twice as many as four years ago. But a survey by the university suggested that many more students would like the chance to study abroad but lacked money .

Some $70 million of Mr. Rockefeller’s gift will help address such desires, while the rest will be devoted to arts programs.

Harvard will not receive the gift until Mr. Rockefeller’s death, but until then, he will give the university $2.5 million a year so it will ultimately receive more than the value of the gift. Other major gifts he has made since 2005 have been similarly structured, including a $225 million gift to the foundation he established with his three brothers and $100 million gifts to the Museum of Modern Art and Rockefeller University.

Mr. Rockefeller said he had no more large gifts planned.

“I won’t guarantee that there won’t be another one,” he said. “I won’t live forever, but I hope to be around for awhile to enjoy the ones I’ve already made.”